“Boss.” Britt inclined his head toward Buzz Cut now that they could converse without screaming at the top of their lungs. “Let me introduce you to my brother, Knox, and his…” He trailed off as he looked expectantly at Sabrina.
Had he forgotten her name?
“I’m sorry.” His expression again turned speculative. “I didn’t ask what your relationship is with my brother. Are you his girlfriend or…” He let the sentence dangle, waiting for her to fill in the blank.
“I’m his…” She paused and considered. She’d been about to sayfriend. But she’d only known Knox for two days. He’d been Cooper’s friend. Not hers. “We’renewfriends,” she finally finished.
Surely after what they’d been through, they were more than mere acquaintances.
“Right.” Britt’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Boss, this is Sabrina Greenlee, Knox’s new friend. And this is Frank Knight.” He gestured to the giant. “But you can call him Boss. Everyone does.”
“Everyone but my illustrious wife.” The big man winked and hitched his chin toward the woman with the paint sprayer. “She refuses to give me the title since she wears the pants in the family.” He offered his giant baseball mitt of a hand to Sabrina and Knox.
Sabrina murmured the appropriate pleasantries but only paid half attention to her words. As more people gathered around, she began to feel claustrophobic despite the grandeur of the space.
The man using the grinder on the tailpipe introduced himself as Sam, and she was immediately struck by his ocean-blue eyes and classically handsome profile. A tall, sandy-haired guy with a face that belonged on the silver screen shook her hand and told her his name was Fisher. He threw his arm around the shoulders of a dark-haired woman who looked far too sleek and elegant to work with rough and rowdy motorcycle mechanics. She inclined her perfect chin toward Sabrina while introducing herself as Eliza.
Sabrina’s underfed and overwhelmed brain spun with all the new names and faces. Then, her gaze landed on the gentleman who stood slightly off to the side of the gathered group…and the world went still.
He was quite possibly the most visually pleasing man she’d ever clapped eyes on. And when his piercing gaze found hers, she would swear all the oxygen was sucked right out of the room.
He was fit. Like,veryfit. The type of fit you’d expect to see on the cover ofMen’s Health. A wild cap of auburn hair sat atop his head, his green eyes reminded her of Saint Patrick’s Day, and a well-trimmed beard covered a jawline that celebrities paid thousands of dollars to plastic surgeons to achieve.
“Name’s Hewitt.” He extended his hand, and she looked down to see long, knobby-knuckled fingers and an impossibly wide palm. “But everyone calls me Hew.”
She swallowed and hesitated to accept his handshake. She wasn’t sure why. She’d shaken hands with all the others.
Maybe it was because she felt overwhelmed by his sheer, masculine beauty. Or perhaps it was because she couldn’t figure out if the harsh expression on his face was one of assessment or objection.
“Sabrina,” she whispered.
Is that my voice?
“Nice to meet you, Sabrina,” he said when she finally summoned the courage to take his hand.
She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, maybe for his handshake to be as harsh as his expression. But the fingers he wrapped around hers were gentle.
She was about to return his acknowledgment when Britt held up a hand. “Shhh!” he said, his phone pinned to his ear. “All of you, hush. I can’t hear what Rafer is saying.”
Hew dropped her hand. Was it strange that she’d just met him, and yet she missed the warmth and grounding effect of his steady grip?
“Say that again, Rafe,” Britt barked into his phone. Sabrina watched his eyebrows go from forming a deep V to lifting into high arches. “O’Toole is here? What’s she want?” His expression went as hard as stone as his gaze landed on Knox. “I will kick your ass up between your shoulder blades; I swear to god,” he snarled lowly as he held his cell phone to his chest to muffle the microphone.
“What?” Knox lifted his hands. “Who’s O’Toole?”
“She’s an FBI agent. And she’s here wanting to talk to me aboutyou.”
“Fuck,” Knox grumbled as his gaze darted to Sabrina.
She suddenly felt the strangest sensation. It was like she was leaving her body. The noise of the sheet metal machine sounded very far away. Her vision tightened into a tunnel. And the ground disappeared from beneath her feet until she was free-floating in space.
“Damnit, she’s going down,” Hew said in an accent that reminded her ofGood Will Hunting.
Who’s going down?she wondered dreamily a second before the world faded to black.
4
“Agent O’Toole!”
